Manufacture of sliding-clasp fasteners



May 3, 1955 I NAGELE 2,707,509

- MANUFACTURE OF SLIDING-CLASP FASTENERS Filed Feb. 14, 1952 3 Shee'ts-Sheet l JIY/ff/l/UP Karl F iednchl Nougale,

y 3, 1955 K. F. NAGELE 2,707,509

MANUFACTURE OF SLIDING-CLASP FASTENERS Filed Feb. 14, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 KM munch N'cLgQ't my M May 3, 1955 K. F. NAGELE MANUFACTURE OF SLIDING-CLASP FASTENERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 14, 1952 KM! F ledr mh Niigele United States Patent The invention relates to the manufacture of slide fasteners and more specifically to machines for the production of such fasteners of the kind in which the fastener elements are placed astride the beading of a fabric tape and pressed on, the tape being fed forward in accordance with the single spacing or a multiple of the spacing of the fastening elements after each pressing-on p operation.

In all known automatic or semi-automatic machines of this kind the feed of the fabric tape to be equipped with fastener elements is of particular importance since the neatness and the quality of the fasteners mainly depend on this feed. Known machines work either in such manner that the fabric tape, after an applied fastener element has been pressed on, is fed step by step according to the spacing of the elements or in such manner that the fabric tape remains in movement also during the pressing-on operation, which has to be carried out correspondingly. For this there may, for example, be employed two rollers receiving the fabric strip between them and provided with a step-by-step pawl drive, a roughened feed wheel,

over which runs the fabric strip fitted with elements which by a jaw smooth at its inner side is urged against the feed wheel, or resilient grippers ensuring the stepby-step feed.

Devices of this or a similar design have the disadvantage that they cannot avoid a slipping of the tape in the case of obstructions in the feed. Thereby the uniformity of the mutual spacing of the individual fastener elements is affected, for each obstruction in the feed to which the fabric tape is subjected causes some slip of the tape in are pulled together, to extend in a wavy line instead of a straight line. The spacing irregularities may, in the case of major obstructions such as are not unlikely to the feed mechanism. The resulting irregularities in the spacing, cause however thefastener when its two chains occur in the running-off from the roller, become so pro-' nounced as to render the fastener useless by affecting its operation. As a consequence, a'considerable proportion of rejects is liable to be produced by the known feed mechanisms.

The present invention has for an object to ensureindependently of obstructions in the incoming run of the tape-which always occur to a greater or lesser extent-- that the uniformity of feed of the tape is maintained with high accuracy and thus to ensure truly uniform spacing of the fastener elements which have to be applied to the fabric tape and pressed-on to it. The invention mainly consists in that in the initially-mentioned machines, there is arranged for the feed of the fastener tape, behind any desired pressing-on device, parallel at the side of the fabric tape fitted with clamped-on fastener elements, a feed cylinder with grooves corresponding to the thickness and spacing of the fastener elements, the turns of which have only on part of the circumference a gradient corresponding to the single or multiple spacing of the elements on the fastener, and which grip round Patented May 3, 1955 the adjacent lateral edge of the fastener elements, and that oppositely to this feed cylinder there is provided a smooth stationary guide surface applied to the other lateral edge of the fastener elements of a guide cylinder of opposite direction of rotation.

The guide cylinder of opposite direction of rotation, which is disposed parallel to the feed cylinder, may have a smooth circumference or may, like the feed cylinder, be provided with grooves the turns of which have only on part of the circumference a gradient corresponding to the single or multiple spacing of the elements on the fastener, the gradient being however in this case directed oppositely in view of the opposite directions of rotation of the two cylinders.

The invention is equally applicable to machines in which previously blanked-out fastener elements are applied and pressed on to the tape and to fully automatic machines in which the fastener elements are produced from a round or flat wire immediately before being applied and pressed-on to the fabric tape.

According to the invention the feed of the tape is thus obtained by the feed cylinder, the grooves of which grip round one of the lateral edges of the fastener elements already secured on the fabric tape and feed these elements, together with the fabric tape, by means of the inclined portion of the groove turns, by one or several spacings of the elements at each revolution according to the course of the gradient of the grooves and according to whether the cylinder is provided with single or multiplestart grooves. One may however also provide two or more gradients on a single helical turn of the groove, for example when two or several fastener elements are applied to the tape at the same time. The other lateral edge of the fastener elements slides, during the forward feed, along the stationary smooth surface or along the smooth cylinder of opposite direction of rotation, but it is particularly advantageous to provide a guide cylinder rotating in opposite direction to, and constructed exactly like, the feed cylinder except that the gradients in the individual turns of its grooves are directed oppositely in the two cylinders. In this case the fastener elements are gripped and fed forwardly at both lateral edges.

Due to the fact that the fastener elements already secured on the fabric tape are positively advanced, the fabric tape is surely and uniformly dragged along. The

' possibility of slip being produced by any occurring obstructions in the feed of the tape is practically excluded so that an extremely accurate and exact division (relative spacing of the fastener elements) is obtained. Moreover, since the feed cylinder always grips a relatively great number of fastener elements at the same time, the strain of the feed is distributed amongst a number of fastener elements, stretching of the strip of material being thereby reduced.

It is also important that only a minimum of space is left between' the point at which the fastener elements are fixed to the tape by being pressed on and the point at which they are engaged by the feed mechanism, in an ideal case only the spacing between two fastener elements,

} the effect of elastic stretching of the fabric tape during the feed or in the case of occurring obstructions being thereby reduced to a minimum.

Two embodiments of the invention are schematically illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment, in section through the frame and the magazine,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof,

Fig. 3 is a section on line III-III of Fig. 2,

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are sections on the broken line IV-IV of Fig. l with the pressing-on rollers in their central, lowermost and uppermost positions, respectively,

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side elevation of a modified embodimentof the-machine, showingthe journalling of the feed cylinders thereof, and

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of another modification, showingth'e vertically disposed 'feed cylinders and the pressing-on device thereof.

Referring nowfirst-to'Figs. "l 'and 2, in operation of thentachine one ortwo fastener elements 2'is/are'wi'thdrawn from the magazine 1 to'rest, with their'head downwards, upon -a supporting rail 3 (Fig. 4), their lateral edges -.cngaging the grooves 4 of two division cylinders 5'and '6. These division cylinders are so constructed'that the grooves e have a gradient onpart only of the circumference of eaeh-cylindeig as can be'seen'inFig. 1. This gradient corresponds 'to the single or multiple value of the spacing oftwo adjacentfastencrelements. During eaclrrevolution of the division cylinders 55 and-6 one or more fastener elements are supplied from the magazine I and advanced by the-spacing of the elements or a multiple thereof. The-beadedtape Ssupplied at 7 is'pressed into the spread feetof-the elements-with its beading by means of aresiliently mounted toothed twin disc-9. The fastener elements, now carried by beaded tape'fi, are fed to a pressing-on device, which may-be of anysuitableknown construction and is designated by the general-reference number 10. The pressing=on device, oneconstruetional form of which will'be described more-in detail, presses the spread-out feet of the elements firmly against the beadingof the fabric tape'thereby securing the elements.

The pressing-on device is joined by the mechanistnaccording to the invention for the feeding of the beaded tape 8. This feed mechanism comprises two feed cylinders 11 and 12 which are driven for rotation in opposite directions and which, exactly like the division cylinders 5 and 6, are provided with grooves 13 which like the grooves 4, possess a gradient according to the single or multiple spacing of the elements on a portiononly of their circumference. In operation, as soon as thepressed-on fastener elements 2 have passed the pressing-on device 10, they are, sliding along with their head upon the supporting rail, seized at their lateral parts by the grooves 13 of the oppositely rotating feed cylinders '11 and 12, thebeaded tape 8 being thus at the same time seized by the pressed-on fastener elements and advanced together with the latter. The length of the two feed cylinders 11 and 12, which rotate in opposite directions in synchronism with the division cylinders 5 and 6, should be such that the length of fastener tape not fitted with elements between two successivelengths of'fastener fitted with elements is smaller than the overall length of the feed cylinders 11 and -12. Owing to this, some elements at the end .or beginning of each length of fastener are seized by the feed cylinders .l-l, 12 even during the passage of those parts of the tape which are not fitted with elements, thus ensuring that the feed movement of the tape is at no time interrupted. At each moment a number of fastener elements clamped on to the beaded tape are simultaneously seized by the feed cylinders 11 and 12 so that the elastic'effect of the tape can produce but little effect upon the rate of feed in the case of obstructions in the admission especially when the feed cylinders 11 and 12 directly join the pressing-on device 10. It will be appreciated that when first starting the machine, it is necessaryfor the fabric tape 8 to be seized by hand at the end of the machine until at least one or'two pressed-on fastener elements are seized by the feed cylinders 11 and 12, whereafter the machine continues its work automatically.

The second feed cylinder 12 may be replaced by a stationary smooth guide surface against which one lateral edge of each fastener element applies itself. Alternatively the feed cylinder 12 may be replaced by a cylinder rotating in opposite direction and having a smooth circumference. It will, however, be generally preferable to employ two feed cylinders 11 and 12 both having grooves in order to ensure in each case an absolutely uniform dragging al'ong'ofthefabric' tape.

Obviously the division rollers 5 and 6 may also be replaced by other dividing mechanisms, while the pressingon device 10 may be of any desired construction, in the illustrated example a pressing-on device 10 of a very small construction is interposed between the adjacent respective ends of the division cylinders 5, 6 and the feed cylinders 11, 12. This pressing-on device comprises two annular rolls 14 and 15 which are freely exposed at the mutually adjacent sides but apart from this are surrounded by narrow holders 16 and 17 extending over more than 180 of their circumference. These holders are guided, at right angles to the direction of the feed cylinders 11, 12 and to the beaded tape 8 as it passes between the rollers, in a base member 13 and are adapted to be adjusted in this member by set screws 19 to vary their mutual distance. The base member 18 is carried bya tappet rod 20 which is held resiliently against an eccentric 21 of a drive shaft 22. By rotation of'the shaft 22 the tappet 20 is moved'up and down whereby also the pressing-on rollers '14 and 15 carry out an up and down movement. The shaft 22 also drives,'through gear -wheels-23, 24 and 25, the division cylinders 5 and6 and the feed cylinders 11 and 12. In-order that a one sided drive by the previously-mentioned gear wheels be required, the-two shafts 5a and 110011 which the cylinders 5 and 11 are secured, are interconnectedby an eccentric pin -26-and the shafts-6a and 1211 on which the cylinders 6 and 12 are secured, are inter-connected by-an eccentric pin 27. These eccentric pins 26 and 27 extend through the bores ofthe annular rolls -14and 15 respectively so that the width (i. e. axial length) of these annular rolls-must not begreater than the length of said eccentric connecting pins 26 and 27. Advantageously the widthor height of-the-rolls 14 and 15 should correspond to the single or multiple spacing of the elements on the fastener.

The operation of this pressing-on mechanism is as follows. As soon as-one -or more fastener elements with the pressed-on beading-of the fabric tape has or have reached the range of the annular rolls 14 and 15, these rolls, which are in their lowermost position'as shown in Fig. 5, are moved upwardly by the eccentric-drive, to roll along the sides of the fastener elements 2 and press the feet of the latter against the beading of the fabric tape, as -is shown in Figs. A and 6. During this operation-the ends of thefeet of 'the'elements are supported by a U-shaped countersupport '28, whereby the fastener elements are prevented from escaping upwardly during the rolling-on of the feet-ofthe elements. The rigid connection of the shafts 5a and 11a and ofthe shafts 6a, 1211 bythe cccentricpins 26 and 27, respectivcly enables the annular rolls 14 and 15 to carry out the required amount of up-and-down movement, as can be seen from the-end positions shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. As already mentioned, the pressed-on fastener elements are, behind the pressing on device 10, seized by the fcedcylinders 11 and 12 so that the completed fastener chain leaves the machine behind the feed cylinders 11, 12. The fastener-chains are then severed in the gaps which are not fitted with elements, two chains being connected with each other to form each complete fastener.

The described pressing-on device may-also be used in machines which in the place of thedivision cylinders 5, 6 are equipped with any other suitable device for pressing the fastener elements on to the beaded-tape with the correct spacing, but in this case it is necessary for the feed cylinders 11 and 1-2to be, according to Fig. 7, journallcd and driven separately with their ends so that the fastener tape extends in the direction of the arrow 29 according to Fig. 7.

While in the embodiment shown in Figs. l3 the feed eylindersan'd the division cylinders are disposed coaxially and horizontally, the feed cylinders 11 and '12 in the embodiment shown in Fig. 8 are mounted vertically, for example at the front side of a fully automatically operating machine into which a wire of round or flat metal is introduced, from which the elements are blanked-out and at the same time or immediately subsequently pressed upon the beading of the tape, which passes through the machine from above to below and are pressed-on by reciprocating stepped jaws 31 and 32. In this case, too, the pressed-on fastener elements are seized by the grooves of the feed cylinders 11 and 12 thereby ensuring a uniform rate of feed of the tape and as a consequence ensuring that the fasteners produced are extremely neat, smooth and straight.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for producing slide fasteners, comprising, in combination, a device for placing opposite the rim portion of a moving tape slide fastener elements in a predetermined distance from one another, a device for pressing-on the slide fastener elements against the rim portion of the tape, said pressing-on device adjoining said placing device, a pair of parallel cylinders arranged immediately behind said pressing-on device, said parallel cylinders being substantially parallel to the direction of the tape leaving said pressing-on device and being driven in opposite directions, and grooves arranged, respectively, on the surfaces of said cylinders so as to be mirror-pictures of each other, said grooves having a width corresponding to the thickness of the elements pressed on the rim portion of the tape by said pressing-on device, and a gradient over only part of their perimeter, said gradient corresponding to the spacing of successive elements pressed on the tape, said grooves gripping the lateral edges of the slide fastener elements.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, said cylinders having an effective length larger than the length of the tape between two consecutive lengths of slide fastener chains attached to said tape.

3. A machine for producing slide fasteners, comprising, in combination, a magazine for storing slide fastener elements, means for discharging at least one slide fasten?" element from said magazine, a pair of first cylinders arranged with the axes thereof in parallel, said pair of first cylinders being in operative connection With said discharging means, means for rotating said first cylinders in opposition to each other, first grooves arranged, respectively, on the surfaces of said first cylinders so as to be mirror pictures of each other, said first grooves having a width corresponding to the thickness of the elements to be pressed on the rim portion of the tape and a gradient over only part of their perimeter, said gradient corresponding to the spacing of the successive elements when pressed on the tape, a device for pressing-on the slide fastener elements against the rim portion of the tape, said pressing-on device being arranged so as to immediately follow said first cylinders and having two opposite rollers being moved upward and downward and rolling against the lateral edges of the feet of the slide fastener element being engaged by said pressing-on device, a pair of second parallel cylinders arranged immediately behind said pressing-on device and being driven in opposite directions to each other so as to rotate at the same speed, and second grooves arranged, respectively, on the surfaces of said second cylinders so as to be mirror pictures of each other, said second grooves having a width corresponding to the thickness of the elements pressed on the rim portion of the tape by said pressing-on device and a gradient over only part of their perimeter, said gradient corresponding to the spacing of successive elements pressed on the tape, said second grooves gripping the lateral edges of the slide fastener elements engaged by said second cylinders, the gradients of the grooves on said first and second cylinders being identical.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3, said rollers of said pressing-on device being formed as annular rollers, two eccentric pins extending, respectively, through said annular rollers and rigidly connecting, respectively, one of said first cylinders with one of said second cylinders, and the other of said first cylinders with the other of said second cylinders, said pins assuming the lowermost position thereof when said annular rollers are in the lowermost position thereof, and the uppermost position thereof when said annular rollers are in the uppermost position thereof.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 3, a base member adapted for up and down movement, and a pair of holders mounted on said base member, said holders holding, respectively, said annular rollers on the circumferences thereof over angles exceeding said holders leaving said annular rollers free at opposite sides thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,903,659 Smith Apr. 11, 1933 2,066,359 Nagele Jan. 5, 1937 2,094,715 Nagele Oct. 5, 1937 2,244,667 Banning June 10, 1941 2,297,426 Nagele Sept. 29, 1942 2,601,884 Wintriss July 1, 1952 

